


Nursemaid

by theladyhathaway



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Affection, Fluff, Gentle Levi, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, canonverse, eren is pitiful and levi is a marshmallow, pitiful eren
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 23:22:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3707291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyhathaway/pseuds/theladyhathaway
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren gets sick and Levi has a surprisingly kind bedside manner. Fluffiness ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nursemaid

**Author's Note:**

> My first work up on Ao3! Yay! Anyways, I'm intending for this to be a one-shot, but if people like it I'll expand on it, I guess. Enjoy!

All Levi wanted was one last cup of tea for the evening, and then he’d be able to convince himself to finish his mountain of paperwork and go to bed. But he couldn’t exactly do nothing when, as he was passing the washroom with his tea in hand, he heard it: the unmistakable sound of someone being violently sick. Part of him was already recoiling from the nastiness and urging the rest of him to leave the poor fucker to their illness, they’d probably be fine in the morning, but since he was already right there, he decided to poke his head in and make sure no one was puking their actual guts up.

And that’s where he found Eren Jaeger, on his knees and curled over a toilet. The kid’s face was turned away from him, head resting on a forearm on the rim of the seat, his tense back moving as he panted. A sheen of sweat stuck strands of his dark hair to the back of his neck.

With a soft sigh, Levi placed his teacup on the edge of a sink, grabbed a hand towel, and approached, just as Eren moved to stand. Apparently the movement was too much for his still upset system, because the one foot he’d gotten underneath himself slipped out behind him as his torso contracted and he was struck with another wave of sickness.  
Levi managed to catch him by the forehead and shoulder before he could smack into the toilet, and he tried not to shudder at the reek of fresh vomit. Something about the reek rang particularly foul to Levi’s nose, however, and he realized it was the tang of… wait, was Eren choking up blood? After a moment, Eren leaned back, and Levi released his hold when he was sure the kid wasn’t going to slip and almost give himself a concussion again. He let out a shaky breath and murmured, “Thanks, Mika-” before looking up and freezing solid when he realized it was not in fact his foster sister who had caught him. “C-captain?”

Levi simply raised a concerned eyebrow and handed him the towel. Eren blinked and took it and began cleaning himself up, eyes low with embarrassment. A quick glance at the towel, now covered with saliva and bile and, yes, blood, told him all he needed to know. He tried to meet Eren’s embarrassed gaze, but Eren kept his eyes down. “How long has this been going on?” he demanded softly.

“Since… since the new experiments started.”

Levi muttered a curse. Hanji had recently started injecting Eren with various chemicals just before he shifted to see if they would affect his titan’s form, with no results so far. Eren had been claiming he hadn’t been experiencing any side effects, but that was obviously bullshit.

Levi narrowed his eyes at the boy. “No side effects, huh? If you’re getting sick enough to start hacking up nasty shit like this every night- no, don’t deny it- it’s obviously not working. And why didn’t you report this?”

Eren’s brows drew together, and he looked up at Levi with a fierce light in his eyes. “Because Hanji said they thought they were on to something. And what if they find something that works and I can finally harden my skin too? Or grow armor? Or do something even better? Or-”

“Or what if it ends up killing you.” Levi interjected flatly. “Look, Eren, I appreciate your enthusiasm, and I’m sure Four Eyes does too, but you know you’re more valuable to us alive and well than quite literally puking your guts out every night.” Eren’s fierce expression turned shamefaced, and he dropped his gaze again. Levi resisted the urge to sigh. “Think you’re done or do I need to drag a cot in here so you can camp out over the pot?”

Eren blushed again and murmured, “No, no, I think…” He pushed himself shakily to his feet and only swayed a little bit. “Yeah, I’ll be all right.” He took a step forward, then another, but on the third his legs nearly gave out underneath him and he tumbled right into Levi, who didn’t bother trying to hold back this sigh as he caught the boy under the arms and steadied him. Eren yelped and tried to jump back, but Levi refused to release his hold. “I’m so sorry sir, I swear I didn’t-“

“Yeah, yeah, I have eyes, I know you didn’t mean to, I did just see you almost faceplant on the floor.” Eren righted himself again and as he stood there swaying like a tree in a storm, Levi realized what he was going to have to do. He muttered a curse under his breath, and, as Eren looked up in confusion, Levi grabbed one of his arms and pulled it over his shoulders, then put his own arm around the boy’s waist and stated, “I don’t trust you on stairs right now. C’mon.” Eren made a weak noise of protest, but was leaning quite heavily on Levi before they reached the door.

By the time they arrived back at his cell, Eren was almost wheezing and his face was white and slick with sweat. Levi practically dropped him into his messy bed, but Eren was so out of it already that he didn’t seem to notice the manhandling. He shivered and curled into a ball, wrapping his arms around himself. Damn, he really was sick. Levi studiously ignored the sweaty tackiness of Eren’s skin as he placed a palm on his forehead, before snatching it back almost instantaneously. “Fuck, kid, you’re burning up,” he muttered.

“Don’t know… how… It’s always… freaking freezing… down here…” Eren muttered, face buried in his pillow. Shit, now he was getting the chills. Levi stared at him, watching violent shudders begin racking down Eren’s spine.

“This happens every night?” he asked incredulously.

“Yeah… Be fine by morning… Just need to… let it burn off…” Eren replied, voice low and soft with impending sleep. He was moments away from passing out entirely. Realizing he wasn’t going to do it himself, Levi reached down and grabbed a handful of sheets, then pulled them up over Eren’s shivering frame. Levi watched him for a moment, then shook his head. Poor kid. Hanji had been doing those chemical experiments for almost two weeks now. No wonder Eren had been disappearing just after dinner recently. Despite the additional layers, Eren was still shivering. If Levi’s memory served him correctly, there was a linen cupboard a few paces from the top of the stairs…

A few minutes later, Levi was shaking out and settling another blanket onto Eren’s sleeping form. He pressed a hand under his hair to touch his forehead again, and gave a small sigh of relief. He already felt a little cooler. Maybe he really did just need to sweat it out. Poor bastard, he thought, moving the hand on Eren’s forehead up to his hair, gently petting the boy’s dark head. Levi found a stool nearby, then sat and gently stroked Eren’s hair until he finally uncoiled from his tight ball and relaxed into the mattress, a healthy flush returning to his face.

When he recognized Eren was now deeply and safely asleep, Levi stood and stretched. He knew it hadn’t been more than a few minutes, but down in this dank dungeon it had felt like hours. Glancing down at Eren one last time, he turned to make his way out of the cell. Just before he reached the door, a soft murmur reached him, “Thank you, sir…" 

Levi was torn between a flash of muffled affection and embarrassment at being caught coddling him. So he opted to simply reply, “Don’t mention it.” With that, he turned and disappeared back up the stairs.

**Author's Note:**

> in the words of the great and noble sciencefictioness: feedback me, reader-san. 
> 
> send me comments, questions, drabble requests: isabelsmagnoliias.tumblr.com


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